Once upon a time there were two kittens who lived in a beautiful home with a beautiful family looking after them. One was called Ricky and the other Mr. Fuzzball, and they were old enough to live without their mum. They were both adorable in their own unique way. They had everything they needed: meals provided, warm cosy nooks to sleep in and kids that played with them and patted them. They were happy there.

But Ricky was getting restless… she felt that she was now old enough to live all alone and didn’t need people to look after her. “All this patting and playing,” she would often remark to Mr. Fuzzball, “It’s beginning to get on my nerves.” But Mr. Fuzzball only shrugged and wandered over to the bowl of delicious kitty kibble and munched contentedly. So Ricky tried again: “It really is all quite patronising, don’t you think?” Mr. Fuzzball didn’t take notice and purred as he munched. And that was when Ricky made up her mind to strike out on her own.

Ricky gathered all her belongings, filled a satchel bag with kitty food (“They won’t mind me ‘borrowing’ this, because they give it to me for free anyway…”) and left the homely house behind her. 

First, she wandered down the street, looking at all the other homes. She saw some cats lying lazily on windowsills and shook her head at them. ‘These poor dependent animals,’ she thought to herself, ‘they can’t manage on their own like I can!’ And she walked on.

Next, she came to the highway by the field. ‘How exciting!’, she thought as she saw all the cars speeding past. And she thought some very prideful thoughts about herself, and what a grand mature cat she was. That is, until a big truck splashed through a puddle and the puddle splashed all over Ricky, and Ricky was washed down the side of the road into a gully. 

In the gully, it was even wetter, and there was rubbish everywhere. Ricky dragged herself out of the sticky mess she was in and up the hill to the field. And the worst part was all her food had spilled into the gully. She tried to fish some of it out but without success.

And she was getting very hungry.

And it was getting dark.

And she was dripping wet.

So RIcky thought to herself. And this is what she thought: “You know, when you think about it, being out here hasn’t been that great. I am hungry, and it is dark, and I am dripping wet.”

And Ricky remembered how good it had been that morning, waking up in her cosy nook with the warm wooly blanket, and having a nice big brekkie of kitty kibble ready for her, and when she thought about it, she quite enjoyed the pats and the playtime, actually. But Ricky worried whether the family would accept her back, especially considering how dirty and wet she was.

“I’ll have to give it a try,” Ricky said out loud, to no-one in particular, “Maybe they’ll let me at least sleep out in the garden shed… where the mice live. Perhaps I can learn how to catch them for food.” This idea gave Ricky courage (though she wasn’t too keen on eating mice) and she set off on her journey back home. On the way, she was thinking of how she might apologise to the family, and clean herself back up a bit.

But when she got to their street, there were the kids, out looking for her. They ran up to her, cuddled her really close, and told her how much they loved her. “We’ve missed you so much!”, they told her. And they were so glad to have her back because they really did love her dearly. They weren’t bothered by the dirt or the wet, and a nice warm bath and warm blankets soon fixed all of that. They gave her a nice fresh bowl of kitty kibble and lots of cuddles. 

Ricky felt like the happiest kitty alive, and the family all celebrated that night, full of joy.  

Only Mr. Fuzzball was a bit grumpy that Ricky was getting all the attention.